Putin's speech 'dangerous' rhetoric

Posted
March 19, 2014 23:19:00

When Vladimir Putin welcomed Crimea back into the Russian fold he also trumpeted the restoration of his nation's status as a major power and claimed the West had acted primitively, irresponsibly and unprofessionally with respect to Ukraine. US Secretary of State, John Kerry, called Putin's speech dangerous rhetoric.

STEVE CANNANE, PRESENTER: Pro-Russian forces have seized the key Crimean port of Sevastopol, further entrenching its annexation of the peninsula. Unarmed activists tried to protect the Ukrainian base, but were unable to stop the troops from taking control. The US and Ukrainian governments have accused the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, of escalating the conflict by using dangerous rhetoric in a speech to Parliament last night. Shaun Hassett reports.

SHAUN HASSETT, REPORTER: Just hours after Vladimir Putin signed a treaty annexing Crimea, the Ukrainian Army suffered its first casualties since the Russian incursion.

One Ukrainian soldier was killed and another wounded when pro-Russian troops stormed a base in the Crimean capital, Simferopol.

The Ukrainian Government has warned the conflict is moving from a political fight to a military one.

ARSENY YATSENYUK, UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER (voiceover translation): All responsibility for the unfolding escalation of the military conflict after today's speech by Vladimir Putin lies personally with the Russian President and the Russian Government.

SHAUN HASSETT: Vladimir Putin's speech was not just a welcoming of Crimea back into the Russian fold, but a trumpeting of Russia's restoration as a major power. He spoke of how Russia had been humiliated after the fall of the Soviet Union and how it had been cheated again and again by the West. President Putin said that when it came to Ukraine, the West had acted primitively, irresponsibly and unprofessionally.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (voiceover translation): Our Western partners, headed by the United States of America, prefer in their practical policy to be guided not by international law, but by the right of the strong. They have come to believe in their exceptionalism and their sense of being the chosen ones, that they can decide the destinies of the world, that it's only them who can be right.

JOHN KERRY, US SECRETARY OF STATE: The President may have his version of history, but I believe that he and Russia, for what they have done, are on the wrong side of history.

SHAUN HASSETT: The Russian President denied he wanted to annex any more Ukrainian territory, but the US Secretary of State said the speech was still dangerous rhetoric.

JOHN KERRY: When you raise this nationalistic fervour, which could in fact infect in ways that could be very, very dangerous. All you have to do is go back and read in history of the leadup to World War II.

SHAUN HASSETT: There were scuffles outside the strategic Crimean port of Sevastopol tonight as pro-Ukrainian activists tried to stop pro-Russian forces from entering the base. But the Russians won out and Russian flags are now flying above the Black Sea port, the jewel in the Crimean crown.

Shaun Hassett, Lateline.

STEVE CANNANE: And tonight Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the Government was still deciding whether to impose further sanctions on Russia that could affect the G20 leaders meeting in Australia later this year. The Foreign Minister had been asked if Vladimir Putin would be welcome at the G20.